Preparing Your Home For Sale – Part II

26.March 2014

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In the first part of this blog post, we looked at the first impact rooms of your property in Malta – the front and facade; the hallway; the living room. Here we will proceed through the Maltese home to work our way objectively and purposefully, reviving each room at a time.

Bedrooms sigh a huge sigh of relief every time the bed is well-made, the disorderly clothing is put in its place, the toys picked off the floor, the books put on the shelving. Utilise large cane baskets to group things together – shoes, toys, extra pillows. Put smaller baskets on window ledges with all the paraphernalia that usually accumulates in children’s rooms. Don’t leave knick-knacks such as jewellery or hair accessories or ties, belts, bags hanging from the bed-post or on the front of a wardrobe door. Again, if bedroom carpets look old, remove them. Change curtains and replace them with lightweight sheers that allow more light inside. Remove mis-matched bed-linen and pillow-cases. Now is a good time to use the brand new bed-linen sets you have hidden away in the closet – these will give the room an instant face-lift.

The bathroom needs special attention especially where mould has set in the shower or bath corners, on ledges and where water tends to accumulate. Purchase purposely created products to destroy black mould marks – household bleach may not be strong enough. It is amazing what a difference the right products make in old bathrooms which seem to shine anew. Change torn and miserable looking towels; replace tired mats; throw away mouldy rubber bath mats; include new baskets for all the extra handtowels or shampoos or dirty linen. Add some fragranced candles and humidity loving natural plants. A good trick is to try and use a same-colour-code around the bathroom. So if your bathroom has blue and white tiles, remove anything that is not in a shade of blue or white. Hide other coloured items, and display only that which is in harmony with the basic colour scheme. Complement with one other colour at most, for example, in a blue and white bathroom, add a pop of yellow.Look at the cushions on the kitchen or dining table chairs – worn, soiled and falling apart are they? Those are three good excuses to throw the cushions out – better no cushions than ugly ones. And do de-grease the cooker and oven; wipe down the front of the fridge and remove all those fridge magnets.Take care of the kitchen – this is one room that can become overtaken with gadgets, crockery, glassware, cookery books, the lot. A huge de-clutter must start from inside those cupboards to release invaluable space. Consider every de-cluttered area as getting you one step closer to less packing time when moving out. A definite must is removing kitchen curtains and washing them to destroy the lingering smell of burnt toast and boiled cabbage.Any outdoor area around your home is a plus to the sale, so you really should put in some elbow grease to maximise its impact. Make an enthusiastic effort to do some gardening and if you’re just not interested but have an over-grown garden of weeds, get a professional gardener to clear it up and instil some order. If yours is a small courtyard that is way past its glory, better to give away the half-dead potted plants than to leave them in agony. They just make the space look miserable. Group healthy plants together for maximum impact or alternatively purchase some lively flowering plants to add a dash of colour. Purchase a pretty watering can, add some wind chimes, put out a deck-chair….. make the space look welcoming and usable, but if it is pretty small, don’t cram too many things. Keep a balance. If you have been using the courtyard as an open-air shed, then it’s time to get rid of the junk.For further inspiration, scour property and home improvement magazines, Malta real estate websites and blogs. There are surely other things you will spot around the house that definitely need improving. It will only take a small expenditure to revive the works and make your house come that much closer to being a saleable property.This article was written by Marika Azzopardi, a freelance writer and journalist. A frequent contributor to national English language papers and magazines, she writes about a bevy of topics including art, people and life in general. She is also the author of children’s books and short stories, delving into adult fiction from time to time.